In the News

Microsoft has released an update for Skype called Skype 6.0 for Android and iOS. The users interface has been updated in the new version. The Skype app now focuses on being more natural and intuitive. Microsoft is bringing the iOS style of navigation. Now the buttons at the bottom of the app to clearly mark out sections and Microsoft has done the same on the Android version.

Microsoft is building a pipeline of fourth-generation smartphones to be launched in India around the year-end, and is banking on Windows 10-based devices to make a mark in the highly competitive mobile market. By 2015-end, the company, will also start rolling out the latest Windows 10 operating system for its existing smartphones, which the company reckons would help it grow market share in India, Ajey Mehta, country manager, Microsoft Mobile Devices, told.

Responding to customer hunger for bigger virtual machines, Microsoft has bulked up its most powerful VM with more storage and higher throughput, paving the way for running large-scale, database-driven applications in the Microsoft Azure cloud. The newly launched GS-Series is based on the G-series of VMs, which proved to be surprisingly popular since they were launched in January, said Corey Sanders, Director Program Management, Microsoft Azure.

Companies that have a higher ratio of female leaders tend to do much better in the workplace – diversity need not clash with meritocracy.That was the general consensus of Microsoft APC 2015’s Women In IT Breakfast, which saw Microsoft Australia MD, Pip Marlow; MOQDigital’s CEO, Nicki Page, and Gartner distinguished analyst, Tiffani Bova, joined onstage by Bill Trestrail from Springboard Australia and MC Adam Spencer.

Microsoft’s Cortana offers a plethora of interesting features. It can be used to take notes, set reminders, dictate emails, and check weather updates among other features. Now you can use it to translate voice and text as well. The company has announced that its virtual digital assistant can now instantly translate words, phrases, and even fully formed sentences between 40 languages. The feature has been rolled out to Windows 10.

As Microsoft attempts to transition to a services company, mobile devices have become critical to its plans. “The big shift that we are making when it comes to phones is to not think about phones in isolation,” said Ajey Mehta, Managing Director, Microsoft Mobile Devices (India). “Now with Windows 10, we are looking at providing users value with good apps as well as a personalized and productive experience. We are looking at providing one unifying platform, one unifying experience (across devices).”

Microsoft said it was buying a startup that specializes in analyzing email, meeting schedules and other work data to increase people’s efficiency on the job. I am excited about this big step forward in our company ambition to reinvent productivity and business process, and how it will deliver new value to our customers with organizational analytics,”said Rajesh Jha, Corporate Vice President, Outlook and Office 365, Microsoft.

Windows 10 in August set a record for a one-month increase in user share for any operating system, an analytics firm said. According to California-based Net Applications, Windows 10’s user share — a measure of the number of unique users who used the OS to go online — grew 4.8 percentage points in August to 5.2% for the month.August was the first full month that Windows 10 was available to download and install free of charge by those with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 personal computers and 2-in-1s.

Microsoft has been making strides to change its focus to be a “mobile-first, cloud-first” company, as the Redmond giant understands that it can no longer rely on its PC dominance with Windows. Last year, Microsoft made editing documents free on Office for iPhone, iPad, and Android, but that was only the first step – it has now started offering apps bundled on select Android devices. Microsoft is clearly stressing on ubiquity of its services rather than taking Android head-on.

Domestic handset-maker Intex said it was partnering with Redmond-based IT giant Microsoft to provide 50 GB of cloud storage space for two years via Microsoft’s OneDrive in smartphones sold in India. “OneDrive will come pre-installed in Intex Smartphones with a memory configuration of 16GB ROM and 2GB RAM, namely Aqua Speed HD, Aqua Power Plus, Cloud Power Plus and Aqua Star II (16GB) and all future models matching the said configuration,” the company said.